#Rudolph Malcolm Walker CBE

[reachingforthevoid]

Dr Who: The War Games

At ten episodes, two (or three if you include the ‘teaser’ episode) episodes short of The Daleks’ Master Plan, The War Games is the second majorly epic story that Dr Who attempted. I split my rewatch over two nights, starting on 27 January 2023 and concluding on 28 January 2023.

It opens with our heroes, which is a refreshing change from the last few serials. I don’t mind the serials that start with new casts of characters setting up the story in which our heroes later take part, but it was getting a little bit tedious. The trio are getting along well, but after all of her bodysuits, it’s a bit weird seeing Zoe in a slightly too large trench coat.

The Doctor works out where and when they are, except he tells Jamie they’re in the past. Not for Jamie they’re not! 1917 is 171 years in Jamie's future. Anyway, we very quickly realise that things are not what they seem and this is not a return to the historical story.

In episode two, we hear what sounds very like a TARDIS dematerialisation sound. Not that much further into the tale, and the audience hears mention of Time Lords for the first time. Of course, as the serial continues, the audience discovers that the Doctor is a Time Lord! After five and a half years, the audience learns a little about who the Doctor is, and where he’s from, and why he left. I can only imagine what this must have been like watching in 1969…

Back to the War Games story, and the mystery unravels reasonably well. It is a dastardly plot, rooted in the misconception of Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. As in, only those who are strong survive (not those who have the genetic mutations that best fit a changing situation…). It’s great seeing a Black man, Rudolph Malcolm Walker CBE, playing a pivotal role for a few episodes, not least because in this serial it skewers the main idea of 'race'-based eugenics. Less good is what happens to the character.

The overall story is so driven by testosterone, though… I’ve heard that there was a direction brought in around about this time (it could have been a little later) about no women characters being allowed to be ‘killed’, which led to writers not writing women characters because without that risk to every character, thriller/adventure stories are dull. I don’t know the reasoning behind that directive, or the details, but it reminded me of the very real problem of everyone but the straight white cis man being more likely to be killed off. (rant starts) I don’t think the solution is ever to artificially protect the queers, the people of colour, disabled people, the women, and all permutations of human diversity in fiction, but just to make sure they are not the only victims. And stop defaulting heroes as straight white cis men. (rant over)

Moving along, gimp-like suits really were a thing in 1960s Dr Who. These security guards also act in a mesmerising motion of mime when they fight. Oddly disconcerting, but it does make them quite alien. 

Mind control bobbins is another thing that pops up a lot in Dr Who, especially during the late 1960s and through the 1970s. There’s some subtle stuff about who of humans are less susceptible to mind control. Like bandits… 

The Wars Games actually isn’t as repetitive as its reputation suggests. What repetition exists is there only so a weekly audience can keep up. Ten episodes is a slog to get through in one go, but splitting it in two parts is okay. The Time Lord stuff really must have been astonishing to the audience in 1969, as well as the doom laden feel of the last few episodes. The farewells to Jamie and Zoe are moving. They don’t quite get the Donna Noble treatment, but nearly. The regeneration has more to it than the first one we saw at the end of The Tenth Planet.

Salut, Patrick Troughton and the black and white part of Dr Who. It’s been fascinating to me to watch how television production shifted as technology improved. Also to see the changes in direction taken by the show in terms of stories told and characters portrayed. 

#doctor who #patrick troughton #the war games #time lords #zoe heriot #jamie mccrimmon #donna noble #Rudolph Malcolm Walker CBE